General Research Seminar – Semester Version -- Draft Syllabus Subject to Change
E. Melanie DuPuis
Professor, Sociology
UC Santa Cruz
Office: Room 326 UCDC
Phone: 202-974-6372
melanie.dupuis@ucdc.edu
Office Hours: Monday 5:30-6:30, Friday 2-4 and by appt
Office hour sign up here.
"We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem
to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little. But we do. We have so
much we want to say and figure out.”
--Anne Lamott
Research is the process of asking questions of the world and gathering evidence to
produce new knowledge. The skill of research design, like any other kind of design, is an
innovative, creative, even artistic process. And like other kinds of design, a good one
works well and a bad one will not tell you anything new. Bad designs just confirm
preconceived notions about the world. This course will guide you through the steps of a
rigorous academic research project that help you ask the kind of questions that, if you are
successful, will yield surprising, complex answers about the world.
In your internships, you will be having new experiences and be exposed to new
ideas. You will come up against the contradictions and complexities of the real political
world. From this experience may come questions, questions not generally answered by
those in the middle of the political process (people in political positions are usually called
upon to be advocates, not researchers). However, nearly everyone in the political process
has an answer to the question: "What is to be done?" In the last part of your paper, you
will use the results of your inquiry to ask how these results might contribute good
information to future decisionmaking. You will learn something about asking good
questions, getting good answers and then thinking about how those good answers lead to
better actions.
Ethical Conduct:
Please review the Code of Conduct for this class. These are from the UCSC rules of
ethics, but your own campus follows rules that are closely similar. This code includes
standards concerning the academic work you do, including the requirement that your
work be original, written for this class (with exceptions discussed with the professor
ahead of time) and not plagiarized from other sources. All work will be turned into
Turnitin.com.
Please also review the UCSC Principles of Community, which will hopefully describe
how members of this classroom community treat each other. The key word is "respect."
Grading
I treat this class like a job. In a job, you are assessed for your professionalism and for
your competence. You are welcome to be brilliant, but that is not necessary to get an A
in the course.
My grades measure your work according to two constructs: professionalism and
competence:
Professionalism (20%): I define this in terms of certain behavioral attributes that are
esteemed in the professional world. These are: (1) punctuality, (2) dependability, (3)
trustworthiness, (4) care, (5) respectfulness – but not deference, (6) dedication and (7)
diligence. These are characteristics that I will use to evaluate your behavior to me, to
your fellow students and to your work. Here’s how I will operationalize each of these
variables:
1. punctuality – showing up on time for class. Not scheduling other activities during
class time.
2. Dependability – coming to class prepared and handing work in on time. Making
THREE office hour appointments with me and showing up on time for these
appointments.
3. Trustworthiness – not plagiarizing either others’ work or your own past work.
Not making false excuses for not meeting #1 and #2.
4. Care – taking the time to do a good job, to understand and engage in the work of
others, to treat your fellow students, your professor and yourself well.
5. Respectfulness – not looking (and laughing) at sites on your computer that are not
relevant to the class; not sleeping, staring into space, or making faces at what the
professor or other students are saying; making jokes with friends and laughing
while others are talking (“I can’t believe she’s talking about this” etc…); checking
email or texting under the table during class and; finally (my favorite) having a
loud phone conversation with your mother in the hall listing various annoying
things about the class. (I do see and hear all this stuff. Also, this sort of behavior
makes me stop short and stare, breaking my train of thought and affecting the
quality of the class for the other students.)
a. Not deference – if something truly concerns or bothers you, being able to
come to me and talk to me about it in a courteous and mature way. I know
that there are times when you are right and I am wrong. I am prepared to
listen.
6. Dedication – this variable has to do with the amount of time and effort you put
into your research project, as well as your contributions to the class. A dedicated
professional student comes to class prepared and ready to work. What’s really
fun is when students are engaged in the class, but some of that engagement is up
to me and I will not grade you for not being excited about a methods class when
your main excitement at UCDC is your internship. That’s almost too much to
ask. There are times when you will be really tired, especially at the end of the
semester/quarter. But giving the class the energy you have is important.
7. Diligence – this is the effort you put into your work: the assignments and the
paper and presentations.
Competence: this is more about the skills you gain during the class (or the honing of
skills you already have). These will be exhibited in the work you hand in and in your
presentations. If your work is competent, you will receive full credit (graded with a
✔). There is a high correlation between professionalism and competence, so if you show
care, diligence, dedication outside of class, you are likely to gain skill as well. But skill
is a different concept: it is the actual ability to do something (some very skilled people do
not display many of the behavioral characteristics listed above – I’m sure you’ve met
some of these people and I hope they are not your roommates). By gaining skills you can
accomplish what is asked of you in each assignment. If you do not, you will receive less
than full credit (a ✔-). If your work is brilliant, you will receive extra credit for your
work (a ✔+). This is the equivalent, in a job, of being good enough to remain hired (✔),
doing work that will move you up to a higher position (✔+), or doing work that may not
be adequate to keep your job (✔-). A ✔ represents full credit (you have done enough to
keep you hired to do this work).
You may be asked to assess fellow students in group work. Student assessment of group
members will also be on a check, check-plus or check-minus basis. When you assess
another student, you are doing the same thing: A check means you would want to work
with this person again; you were not tempted to kick them out of the group. A check
minus means the person did not contribute significantly to the group. A check plus
means that this person made significant contributions to the group.
A check-minus is the equivalent of 1% of your grade. A check plus is extra 1% credit.
And, yes, it is possible to cancel out lack of professionalism with check plus brilliance in
skill, but it’s better not to try.
Assignments (20%) –There are several assignments. You will be given some time in
class to do some these assignments, but some will be assigned for homework.
Week Three Presentation (ungraded) -- This is a warm up presented only to me. In this
presentation you will present 3 Powerpoint slides that show you have gained expertise in
your area of interest. I will provide a slide deck. You will receive comments from me on
how to improve your presentation but this will not be graded. Here's a slide deck of what
you need to cover in your presentation. This is only a suggested set of slides, but it
should give you some clarity as to what I am looking for.
Week Four Proposal and Presentation (20%) -- This is your 5-page research project
proposal. You need to show me and the class that you have gained significant
competence in your area of interest and have accomplished significant work on Steps 1-3
of your research design. This will include significant library research and preliminary
conversation with me, possibly your boss at work, and other people you work with or
other experts in your area of interest. Students will also have the opportunity, after input,
to rewrite and re-submit their proposal during the following two weeks.
Students will do a final presentation on their work the last day of class (10%)
For the final assignment, students will write a 20-25 page double-spaced policy research
paper (40%). Papers will tend to follow this outline: Introduction, Background,
Literature Review, Method, Findings, Conclusion and Implications.
Required Reading:
There is less reading than writing for this class. There are writing assignments that also
require doing some short reading.
Required Text: Patricia M. Shields and Nandhini Rangarajan, A Playbook for Research
Methods (S&R)
Sometimes you will be asked to look at a “flipped” lecture (I will send you the
Powerpoint slides for you to read rather than lecturing in class. You should then arrive
with questions about the slides). Flipped lectures are required reading.
Here is an overview of free, on-line statistics packages, if you are interested in doing
numerical analysis. There is also a dedicated computer with an SPSS package available.
The rest of the class readings are available as links or attachments to the assignments.
SCHEDULE – QUARTER STUDENTS
Week One (9/27) – Step 1: Choosing a General Topic and Narrowing Your Topic
We will look over the syllabus and the Research Design Steps. We will discuss
different types of research projects. In the second half of the class, I will meet with each
of you separately to talk about potential topics and projects.
Assignment #1: Keywords (in class)
S&R 7-18
Week Two: (10/4) Step 2: Gathering Current Knowledge on a Topic: The
"Literature Review"
You will take a look at the flipped lecture on literature reviews, which we will also go
over in class. A good literature review requires finding the right sources. We will spend
time in class on source searching and library work.
S&R: 19-32, 193-203
Assignment #2: The Structure of a Research Paper (out of class assignment due in class)
Assignment #3: Key Sources (group in class)
Week Three (10/11) – Step 3: Defining and Bounding Your Research Question -Gathering Sources
Annotated Bibliography Due
This week, you will hand in an annotated bibliography covering your general topic and a
two-page summary on (1) how your reading is helping you narrow down your topic, (2)
what research strategy/conceptual framework you are considering to empirically focus on
your topic and why you think that strategy/framework might work for you.
Week Four (10/ 18) – Step 4: Ways of Gathering Evidence I: Explanation, Formal
Hypotheses, Quantitative Method and Dealing with Bias
This week we will look at different issues of bias. We will look specifically at
quantitative method. Look through the flipped lecture [slide deck here] and come
prepared with questions.
S&R Ch. 3
Assignment #4: Constructs
Assignment #5: Bias
Recommended – Required for those doing a quantitative project:
Sampling – picking what you study:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampling.php
Validity – attempting to lessen bias:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/introval.php
Measurement – trickier than it seems:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measure.php
Week Five (10/25) – Ways of Gathering Evidence II: Descriptive and Exploratory
Studies, Questionnaire Design
This class will provide more training in research design, issues of validity and reliability,
iterating between your research question and the evidence you collect, etc. We will look
specifically at descriptive and exploratory studies and how to design a survey
questionnaire.
REQUIRED: S&R Chapter 4 and 5
Office hour meeting with me before or after class to discuss your proposal.
Recommended –
Case Studies:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html
Policy Evaluation:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intreval.php
Week Six (11/1) -- Ways of Gathering Evidence II: Evaluation/Gauging
This class will provide more training in research design, issues of validity and reliability,
iterating between your research question and the evidence you collect, etc. We will look
specifically at evaluation studies.
Required – S&R Ch. 6
Week Seven (11/8) -- No class – gathering and analyzing data
Week Eight (11/15) -- The Interview And Research Updates
This class will provide more training in research design, issues of validity and reliability,
iterating between your research question and the evidence you collect, etc. We will look
specifically at in-depth interviews and survey design.
Required – Weiss, Ch 4 (on line)
Each student should come to class prepared to answer the following questions:
•
•
•
How has your research question evolved?
How does your method of gathering evidence relate to your research question?
How can you defend your method as both reliable and valid?
Week Nine (11/22) – Paper Drafts Due -- Concluding your paper – Summaries,
Tradeoffs, Policy Implications, etc.
2 hour class and Required Office Hour Meeting
Week Ten (11/29) -- no class
Week Eleven (12/6) – Presentations
Papers due 12/6